MOCHA MORNINGS

Kicking a chunk of ice down the sidewalk...my kids are easily entertained!

I have never seen the 6 year old look so scared/excited in his life! A real elf sent by Santa himself. Where will he land tomorrow? What will he report to Santa? I believe Buddy has just become my new best friend!

My office is pretty bare. I have a plant, that surprisingly is still alive, two computers, basic office equipment and beige walls. Oh, and a few skeletons, mainly of the spine. Yesterday school was out to celebrate Columbus Day and so E spent half the day at work with dad and half a day with me. Like most every Kindergartner he loves to cut, color and paste. After every worksheet he completed he would cut out the pictures. This one in particular he stapled to a post-it and tacked to my board. As he describes it, "the tooth is chasing the boy and girl and they are running away to watch the boy shoot the basketball." Now, who needs fancy artwork of Yellowstone hanging on the wall when you can have this? To me this is priceless stuff!

t he smurf boat Buy the boy a piece of PVC pipe at Home Depot and it becomes a horse, a sword, a baton and a Cane...and that's while your walking through the store. Go to a restaurant and the jelly packets become a skyscraper or a train and the salt and pepper shakers are army men fighting each other or riding on the jelly packet train. After making homemade macaroni and cheese last night he asked for the Velveeta box, so I said, "sure!" Five minutes later he has a boat built with all the essentials that a smurf might need while riding in it. You know, a belt, couple of hot wheels, a Lego block and a tech deck.  Complete with plastic forks and knives for the sails and artillery.

This is a year of firsts...first year of high school, first year of middle school, and the hardest, first day of kindergarten. E was super excited about his first day of school, until we got there. All of a sudden he didn't feel good and the child that never shuts up was absolutely silent! Like all Mothers do, I hung around for a bit in the hallway and then stuck my head in to make sure he was surviving, and all seemed well....for today.

This morning before school Ethan was silently sitting in the dining room eating a bowl of Corn Flakes and I was in the kitchen whipping up school lunches with a toddler hanging from my leg.  Then, out of the blue, I hear, "My name is Ethan and I can do COOL tricks!" ...and then he takes another bite of cereal. After breakfast we proceeded to get ready for school.  Since today is picture day, instead of his uniform, he could wear "Sunday Best".  After getting dressed and being very upset that he was having to wear long pants and not shorts, he asked, "Today we go to PE and how am I suppose to run in this?"  I let him wear his Silly Bandz bracelets and then he was okay with wearing the pants. Go figure.

hApPy 5th BiRThDay to my third precious son, who is now passed out in the living room floor exhausted from all the birthday fun. my husband just informed me that our house looks like an episode from hoarders . guess that's what happens when mom "takes a day off". Happy Birthday lil man!

f or ice cream! if you're gonna be a member of this family, you gotta love ice cream. on this particular hot, summer  day, little man is enjoying an old fashion sundae from a diner downtown. vanilla ice cream with pineapple topping. his favorite. aw...to be a kid again. no worries. no sense of time. just enjoying the summer and his dish of ice cream. life doesn't get much better than this.

my sweet husband has taught our sons to pick me flowers. so, whenever we go for a walk, are at the park or even just in our back yard playing, they pick every wild flower or weed in sight and give it to me.  i absolutely adore these precious gifts from my boys.  however, my first reaction when my 4 year old picked my only iris that bloomed was to say, "no, we don't pick these", but then I stopped and thought, how in the world can i tell this sweet little boy with dirt smeared across his face and sweaty hair not to pick me flowers?  then i realized that this way, at least i get to enjoy my iris whereas if it had stayed out in my yard, unpicked, i probably wouldn't have even noticed it.  then he discovered my rose bush....

"Left foot, left foot, right foot, right...." d irty feet is more like it! how in the world can one little boy's feet get this dirty? and the funny thing is, he is soooo proud of them! b oys! d irty feet, pockets full of rocks, jars filled with worms.... everyday is an adventure around here. i couldn't imagine it any other way.

a fter waking up this morning and getting dressed i came downstairs to fix some coffee and get my bible study on and then i realized two things...it is st. patricks day and i forgot to wear something green . so, after i get loaded up with some delicious caffeine i must retreat back upstairs to change into some more appropriately festive, luck of the irish attire . t he picture to the right is a magnet i have on my fridge of my third son e t han which was taken on his first st. paddy's day , four years ago. it puts a smile on my face every time i walk past it as I remember that day and how our friends thought he was the most adorable child ever with that green wig on, which by the way he wore all day. w ishing everyone a fun, safe st. patrick's day . drink too much beer. and don't pinch or be pinched. "May your home always be too small to hold all of your friends."

Goal ! well...almost! my little man had his first soccer game on saturday and his first shave on sunday. he did so well at his first soccer game. for the first few minutes he looked liked he had been thrown into the lions den, not for sure what to do, but then he caught on to the whole concept and he did great. which in turn created two unbelievably ecstatic parents, one holding the video camera and the other the digital camera. then on sunday...he decided it was time to shave. and i have to say, this was the most dramatic shave i have ever seen. i think the picture says it all. boy, was he getting into it. preschool today, college tomorrow...why do they grow up so fast?

h aving a four year old son equals tons of hot wheels, toy airplanes, and army men scattered all over the entire house. daily i find these objects of his affection all over the house. in my cutting board drawer, in my shoes when I am hurriedly trying to rush out the door, in the microwave, the fruit bowl, and this morning, the worse place of all....the bottom of my foot! OUCH!!! i don't recommend buying airplanes with little spiky propellers and wheels if there is any chance you might step on it. besides causing extreme pain to my foot, it came close to breaking my neck as I slid across the kitchen floor!